food, everything. stuart: do you own the stock? >> i do not. stuart: fair enough. thank you very much. here are connell and lori. lori: i'm lori rothman. great to be here. connorconnell: only car salesmae worse. lori: expect a new sleigh from santa, new numbers on cars out. new month's trading here. >> amazon and ups have them, but can't find anyone to take them. >> may be surprising. top of the hour, stocks every 15 minutes, nicole on the floor, a

lackluster week. >> lackluster again. mixed markets, dow and s&p 500 lower than nasdaq, but holding on. we got a report contracted, showing the lowest level of activities since july of 2009. also, taking a look at dell shares. surging more than 6% on an upgrade at goldman sachs, actually, a 180 on the stock. goldman had it at a sell for two years, upgraded to a buying and increasing the price target from $9 to $13. dell is up today. back to you. >> thank you very much. >> the majority, believe it or not of americans, have a low opinion of the lawmakers when it comes to being honest. just above pushers at the local car dealership.

doug shone, what do you think of this? >> i've been in the profession a long time. i've seen it. bottom line, just one category below politicians b # and -- politicians, and that's political consultants. people are cynical, and with justification, lori. what's going on in washington, they can't make sense of it. >> do you think it's change at all? -ust a fever pitch with the cliff coming up? >> it's getting worse. it used to be there were big people in the senate and house who wanted to do the public good. right now, at the process, neither side is committed to it. >> what's next then? it was interesting this weekend to hear, for example, john boehner on with chris l wallace on fox news saying we're nowhere. shouldn't they counter with the president even if they think it's a ridiculous offer? >> if i'm advising the republicans, which i'm not, i'd over a republican plan that's

progrowth, pro job creation, get rid of grover, and say this is what we're for, mr. president. here's the plan. i would say let's bargain in good faith. >> the sunday talk shows, geithner saying republicans need to deal with it, and others it's a stalemate. do you think that's for show though? it seems like the deals in washington, at this time of the year happen at the 11th hour, last three years especially for taxes. >> could have been for taxes, but,,and the but is very important, if there's a frame work december 31st at midnight, it will be just that. the markets will, i think, react predictly, and that's not positive. if there's a recession because there's not a tax plan, we'll be hurt. >> that's the wild card; right? how the markets reagent to it because we don't know. >> we don't. >> impossible to predict. they could sell off.

going over the cliff for a week or two is not the end of the world if there's a deal done, if you request remove potential market reaction. >> employers are not hiring. story after story about small businessmen with obamacare and uncertainties, i'm not going to invest. >> will they get it done? i'm with lori, it was a lot of show and gamesmanship. >> i think there's going to be a frame work achieved, but not meaningful debt or deficit reduction, no reform to entitlements, and i don't think there's tax reform. there's a deal in form, but i think there's more to get done. >> are we done? >> ask another if you want. >> do they really have to raise taxes? people accepted that's the outcome. >> i think that they need to raise revenue. how they do it, whether it's some tax increases or some limiting of deductions, but it shouldn't be hard to bridge a gap that's wider and wider.

>> a matter of what it looks like, a given at this point. >> i think it is. >> higher taxes are coming. doug, thank you. ask as many questions as you want. >> you're generous with your time. >> that's what dagen does when she's here. >> she would be huck -- heckling you for your bad voice today. the supposed middleman in the debt negotiations throwing fire on the talks this week by saying nothing will get done unless republicans agree to raise tax rates on the rich. >> there you go. rich edson in dc with the latest on that. hey, rich. >> congressional republicans say the latest fiscal cliff shrugged off the concession on taxes. the administration is calling for a trillion and a half dollars in tax increases, and the other sticking point for republicans, much of it must be the results of tax rate increases, and that's a non-starter for republicans. >> flabbergastee. i looked, and i said, you can't

be serious? i just never seen anything like it. we have seven weeks between election day and the end of the year, and three of those weeks have been wasted with this nonsense. >> okay. you heard for the first time in two decades now acknowledge revenues can go up as part of the balanced plan, a good first step, but they have to deal with rates and revenues. >> this talk has lawmakers and analysts skeptical. they could strike a deal to have hundreds of billions in tax increases set for january. still, both sides have been through the debate before. they know the options available to cobble a deal together. one aid says it's too early for either side to reach an agreement knowing they still have to show to their members they pushedded for every possible point to secure the best deal possible. still, it is getting late, and the sides are trillions apart. back to you. >> all right, rich, rich edson in washington.

>> we have two more weeks before anything is done. >> might be. >> let's talk with the next guest saying republicans should give into the tax cuts for the rich, but should make a demand of their own. >> ed connor this year, worked with mitt romney, on with us, author of "unintended consequences," and you say if you're going to raise taxes, you have to get something back which is what? >> make any tax increase, rolling back bush tax cuts, for example, conditional upon reaching agreement that stop the debt growing as a percent of gdp. they can't reach the agreement by the end of the year so as a part of this, agree to retroactively roll back bush tax cuts if they reach agreements. >> the democrats thought they did enough deficit cutting. >> not even close. >> right. >> 0%, you need $900 billion of tax increases or spending cuts to stop debt growing as a percent of gdp.

on the $900 billion you need, you need more than that. the president, who wants to support his spending, needs enormous tax increases, and public opinion says he can blame tax increases on republicans if he's over the cliff so his threat to go over the cliff, i think, is very credible, and i think the republicans are in a very procare yows negotiating position because if they are blamed for this, they'll loss the house, and if they lose the house, there's enormous damage done to the economy. >> that's all the control they have left. they don't want to lose that in two years. back to the math to dig into this. they need, what? $900 billion -- >> a $1.1 trillion deficit, one $2 billion a year so debt does not grow a percent of gdp. >> how do we get there? the number on the table last week from the democrats on the entitlements was $400 billion.

>> over ten years. >> that's nothing, nothing. >> letting the tax cuts expire, people earning over $250,000, that's $50 billion. >> how do you do this then? >> raising dividends, capital gains, state taxes, you need $800 billion more. the only way to get there is enormous spending cuts or e enormous tax increases. we raise $1.1 trillion a year. we need $900 billion to close the gap. that's an 80% across the board tax increase. >> is it realistic to close the gap? >> you can't let debt continue to grow forever. you have to step in the right direction, and this is a two prong negotiating strategy for democrats. get $150 # million a year from the wealthy, and then negotiate on the other $800 billion. you should recognize that's just the down payment and taxes go up from there because even if you went off the cliff, you still need close to a 70% marginal tax

rate to actually bring this into balance. >> what do you think of this idea: even if we avoid the miscall cliff rather, and the tax cuts happen how democrats want them, is there a recession? we're not getting meaningful deficit spending cuts. >> at some point, they will be fearful of the debt rising percent of gdp. they have not shown the fear yet, but when they come to terms what needs to be done to stop it from growing and president makes proposals about the cuts and tax increases public -- is needed, the public will be shocked. >> interest rates are tame, looking at the dow, it's just down 30 points, markets doing nothing. dow's down now, but nothing to be alarmed over. >> the bond market, it's not forcing people to think, oh, this is urgent. we have record low interest rates. if they shoot up, maybe they sell off.

>> be careful. there's interest rates that are near zero. nobodiments to work the money -- nobody wants to work the money because they are scared and that's why rates are low. the dow is 13,000, it's really only a 14pe. it's not that optimistic. >> china, europe falling apart helping the u.s. markets. >> ed, great to have you on. thanks a lot. >> thank you for having me. >> the duke and dutch chess of cambridge are expecting a baby. wonderful news. a spokesman says both families are delighted with the news. a lot of speculation saying she had a suspicious there would be an announcement. there you go. a royal baby on the way. >> martha knows more than anyone should. sales check coming up, how many are willing to get up for a new car. >> fill job openings for the

holiday, you can't find anyone willing to work the lines. how about the donald as moderator? we talk with neil cavuto about the idea of putting debt negotiations on tv. check the markets, the oil market in particular, as we head off to break. ♪

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>> quarter past, a check of the markets like every 15 # minutes. apple planning to extend global reach, and viewers, to the dow, just below 13,000 now. >> yeah, trying to get back above it, but not today. look at apple shares. they are up decently. trying to push closer to the $600 a share mark. the news today is that the iphone5 is now in 47 countries, but this month, it's going to more than 50 other countries, china, being one of them, on december 14st, a nice reach for apple. also, looking at research in motion shares. they are down three quarters of 1% right now. the folks giving rim a sell

rating and price target of $10, and rim shares are $11 and change right now. a winner and a loser in the tech space, and nasdaq up two points now. >> many thanks. >> time now to make ourselves money, hopefully, with charles payne here looking at an oil company; right? >> you know, days, i say, golly, i wish i would could be with ths at the elephant. stocks go up and up. a big move already today, a key resistance point of 71, next point is 676 #. -- 76. it's a north dakota oil play. it's the sweet low sulfur crude. today, good news. another well, upgraded, and last month upgraded rbc. stock off 52. you see from the chart, and you see from the chart on the verge of breaking in. i think 76 will be the next

>> what's the catalyst today? >> there was a reservoir, drilling going on there. an upgrade, benefiting from the keystone pipeline, and it's one of the companies. i don't know why the stock is down. over the last four quarters, beat it three times. execution inconsistent, but annual growth at 29%, could be an understatement. >> 72 # today, 76 resistance, room to play here. >> that's right. if it breaks there, it's 84 bucks. >> north dakota oil a good story for the last few years. >> yeah. >> all right. >> auto makers offering hope for the economy this morning. >> we'll talk, coming up here, about the microsoft surface, the tablet, the softtare giant trying to tear consumers away from apple's ipad. a little endeavor, but first on "markets now," currencies and how everybody's faring today against the dollar. we'll be right back.

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>> at 22 minutes past the hour, lauren green with the fox news minute. north korea planning a rocket launch this month despite

international warnings. sources in south korea government says the first stage of the rocket is put in place suggesting a launch could be next week. that would coincide with south korea's presidential elections. the u.k., israeli envoys to the country in protest of the israeli prime minister's plan to build 3,000 settlement homes in the west bank. israel authorized the housing units after the united nations voted to upgrade palestinian status. palestine opposed the move. george hw bush in stable condition after receiving treatment for a bronchitissrelated cost. the 88-year-old has been in the hospital for a week receiving treatment visited by the children, including former president george w. bush. those are your headlines. back to lori and connell. >> thank you. >> sales numbers, general motors up 3% from last year, and others in the green as well thanks to, believe it or not, hurricane

sandy. >> jeff flock has the story at the bureau in chicago. hi, jeff. >> indeed. two headlines. sandy one, and the other is fiscal cliff. starting to see the first impacts now in terms of considerations about fiscal cliff on the sales call today with ford keeping production up in the first quarter. they are bullish, increasing production by 11%, and gm holding off on sales forecasts because they are worried about the cliff. look at the numbers. as lori said, gm up 3%, ford up 6%, chrysler up, 30th consecutive month of increases for chrysler, toyota up 17%. gm did well with small cars, we're getting to the point in the country where cars are # getting so old, 11 years is the average age of a vehicle right now, and that is driving it as well. on the sandy front, as we look at the stock numbers, the folks

at ford say we are 30,000 additional sales industry-wide because of sandy. toyota said they they 400,000 cars were damaged in sandy, a boost to gm and ford. look at the stock there. ford stock not harmed by news of another recall for them. that recall's interesting because they don't have a great fix for that, but, you know, didn't hurt the stock. sales, obviously, still pretty good, really bringing it to toyota on those electric and those hybrid sales. good for u.s. auto makers as well. there's the headlines. auto industry. >> jeff from chicago. >> literally up to speed. >> ha-ha, very good. >> thank you, couldn't resist. >> well -- >> ups and amazon have jobs in the shipment facilities, but there's not a way to fill them. tell you why. >> all right. the idea that the president should negotiate the debt deal with congress on c-span, they

should televise the whole thing. realistic or something we would ever want to watch? neil cavuto, we'll see what he thinks of it. heath coming up live in studio, but, first, markets here on "markets now," and here's the winners we have today on the s&p500. ♪ tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 this morning, i'm going to trade in hong kong.

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only room for long-term bets. two companies are actually struggling to find workers. reality tv at its very best. new cavuto weighs in on the idea that the president and congress should weigh in on a dead deal on television. connell: stocks now every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti is on the floor. >> let's just show you the dow. the best month of the year, typically, for the s&p 500. the second sense 1954 the blue-chip. you want to take a look at my shoes. i am supporting ugg. we are talking about the owner of them. i know you like them.

i am so comfortable. though folks are upgrading to a by giving it a $65 price target. the issue is, well, ugg have been underperforming. not doing as good as we may expect. in all of next year, it may be a little better next year. i know you have a pair, right, lori? connell: my two girls have them. i do know an older gentleman in his 70s who is on the radio. >> i did not know that. breaking news. >> $180 each. >> they are very expensive.

connell: i did not get them for them. that is not good news at all. unemployment at nearly 8%. some companies not able to fill spots. amazon and ups are having trouble finding workers for the holiday season. the companies are offering jobs in nearly every department. from gift wrapping and packing from shipping. the experts believe regardless of high unemployment, people still holding out for higher-paying, more secure work. that is kind of interesting. lori: do you think they are getting a good enough word out? connell: the lower skilled jobs, and then you have the other jobs that are available that people need more skills. those cannot be filled either. lori: it does not matter who you are, i would love to get paid to

wrap all the presents i have. i will wrap your gifts and charge you. or i could work for ups. how about a big stack of pancakes with a side of weddings. they are serving up just that in las vegas. they will be the first one of 1700 denny's worldwide to have a wedding chapel and a photo booth. there will be a celebrity wedding in february. details are not disclosed. my anniversary is coming up. if i go to denny's, if he is listening to this, mr., i would not be too happy about that. i would get a big stack of pancakes. all right. a better idea. what to do with these markets. the uncertainty on capitol hill has the markets on a bumpy ride. invest now, the volatility is

here to stay. joining us now from boston, john. you are not comfortable. you say you have to look down the road? >> we have the election. 500 million people around various democracies around the world voted this year. you have to fiscal cliff coming up. you still have it issues in europe. so, you look at all these things, if you are an investor, you are saying, oh, my gosh, do i keep waiting, do i invest? volatility is here to stay. they need to be invested. lori: i always feel like there are so many things. jill politics to global economy. there are constantly influencing

investors. you have to look at what is going on in china. for example, better economic news in asia. it is not, you cannot put blinders on anymore. >> that is exactly correct. what happens in the chinese economy or what happens in the european economy does affect what we need to o here. and how we need to invest. when you look around the world, you have 80% of investors who believe volatility is here to stay. now, the difficulty is you have 70%, three out of four americans who saved it do not have enough for environment. lori: should average investors follow the institutions? >> yeah, you know, one of the things we are seeing is a lot of institutions have held off or have looked at managing risk and

mitigating in their own portfolios. you are looking at this longer-term investing. writing to the store. looking at structures that allow you to mitigate risk and have better sleeping at night. you cannot fund a retirement by earning a half of a percent of 1% and a stable money market fund or bond. you will need to take some risk. sure. i was just going to come in with a risk. should i go risk on all the way and really go crazy and put in some, you know -- [talking over each other] >> it all depends on what your circumstances are. if you have some longer-term horizons, you should be looking

out what type of risk you can look at in the portfolio. the big dynamic change has been risks moving from i do not want to miss the upside to a game i want to watch and protect my principal. it is about risk budgeting now more than the way i need to allocate my investments. it is more about how do i manage my risk. lori: what should it look like? a little less cash, or equities? >> there is no set percentage. basically, what you have now is what is important for your portfolio. you should have some alternatives in their. you should have some equities and bonds, of course. most people do have, you can also look at real estate as a separate type of category as well. basically, you are looking at what type of race can you afford to take. if you know that type of horizon

you can figure out the type of risk you can take to get the results you want at the end of the day. lori: john hayworth, thank you. appreciate the advice. connell: just make these debt talks into a home reality show. get out, you are fired. we will talk to neil cavuto about that. and the idea of putting president obama and john boehner on tv together and televising the debt talks. lori: microsoft's efforts is all coming down to the price tag. we will show you some interest rates as we head to break. 164 on the ten year. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is amy. amy likes to invest in the market.

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>> i have your fox business brief. manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted last month falling to its lowest level in three years. it fell to 49.5. larger than expected drop. on the flip side, you as builders boosted their construction spending in october by their largest about sids may. it rose nearly 1.5. morningstar foods unit is being sold for $1.5 billion.

the deal will help boost its presence in the u.s. it operates and manufacturing facilities in nine states. that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

lori: microsoft hoping to take a bite out of apple's ipad business. more than customers can swallow. connell: shibani joshi has more of that in the newsroom. >> some of the key features, there was one piece of information we did not know until just recently. that is probably the most important piece of information. that is the price tag. whether or not the company shot itself in the foot even before

the 64 gigabyte is 899.vices. the workhorse device is 999. just to give you a sense of compares them. apple ipad is $70 less. they do not sell a 128 comparable device. pretty hefty price tag for a very competitive space. the service does have some pretty cool features. it has a stylist. a keyboard. some other capabilities that are really geared towards business people. the price tag will be a key issue as they are going into the holiday shopping season. perhaps, the service could be sold at a discount even before they hit the major markets. there is an indication that sales have not been blockbusters. microsoft has cut their order

from 4 million units to 2 million units. lori: shibani, thank you. connell: shifting gears to commodities. actually, up now at their highest level in about four months. lori: let's get more from sandra smith. sandra: we are seeing a lot more if that's out there. china is the biggest consumer of a lot of the raw materials that are out there. a jump of 10% in bullish bets in the commodities market. one year ago, it was gold. a selloff over the last couple gold hitting a six week high. of just 9%. this is coming as a lot of the major bank analysts are calling

for the gold to top $1800 an ounce. we have a wheat chart as well. wheat holdings, bullish holdings, in the week market. their highest level since june. we will get those charts ready for you. also, cattle markets. china needs to consume a lot of food. the bullish bets and live cattle more than doubled in the latest week. also, one other area i want to point out is copper. china is the biggest consumer of copper in the world. pouring into the copper market, up about 6%. if we continue to get good news out of china, a lot of analysts expecting those copper prices to

go higher. back to you. lori: great. let's get an update on the stock market with lauren simonetti. >> let's talk tech right now. they have been higher in 13 of the past 15 trading days. pushing closer to the ipo price of $38. last time we were there was in may on ipo day. november was its best month since being a public company. recently, facebook, ceo, mark zuckerberg, hosted a dinner in silicon valley. just imagine what they discuss. he met with king.com, electronic arts, all of these guys. they were talking about ways that monetize from social games. this, of course, in the wake of what happened with zynga last

week. they are down 5% today. connell: our big question today, should the fiscal cliff talks be televised so we can see the whole thing? neil cavuto is coming in. grover norquist made this suggestion over the weekend. we are not sure whether it is a good idea. lori: it is televised enough. the dow off 23. flirting with 13,000. verisign, green mountain coffee, seeing green. we will be back right after this. ♪ can i help you?

i heard you guys can ship ground for less thn e ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to ge a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ound shipping at fedex office.

lori: put it on tv. grover norquist saying the president should go into a room with c-span cameras present. connell: neil cavuto joins us now. what do you think of this idea of putting it on television? neil: i do not think it is a good idea. this would really heighten it a little more. i think grover's point about how they should be held accountable and everyone should see how they come to these decisions, you kind of know how they come to these decisions. i do not think cameras and the whole process would improve anything. you would almost hope behind closed doors they are actually making progress. lori: it must just be a presidential style debate

between speaker boehner and president obama. [talking over each other] there is no moderator to follow up. neil: there is probably something to be said to that. having said that, i do not see anything new coming up here. i do worry about a process of creative ways to raise taxes, not as many ways to rein in spending. i do worry about that. it is the same type of language. connell: i guess you could walk away or you could counter with some sort of an offer.

neil: the notion that they lost an election and they lost it with consequences, you know, they may have lost the election, but that does not mean they lost their backbone. there are certain things that they should stand for. it does not mask the reality that the president did win and one of the consequences is the american people supporting his view, their taxes should go up on the upper income. that is a given. i think that will happen. bill clinton tried to find a way to balance it out. he was going to cut a lot of investment rates. that, that profumo was enough to help trigger an economic boom. what you hand out in of a tax increase, the president could

give back, that would favor the investment community. it could work for him. lori: grover norquist, tea party two-point oh. neil: it is interesting. it is hard to read whether there will be held back to pay for anyone who votes for any type of a tax increase. i think we have learned from this election, you know, back in the a very suicidal pact. i do not know if that threat is real. what is more real right now, the result we have to get a permit spending under control, has disappeared. when it came to spending, that is still -- by the way, the same

people who are picking apart the tea party, john boehner is where he is now and the house enjoys the republican party it does now because of the tea party. i would not be so quick to dismiss all. connell: you still think we are all just playing around it we will get a deal done? neil: i would worry a bad deal. i think that would do more damage than good. connell: lori says she will be watching neil cavuto. neil: why won't you be watching? connell: i do not feel very well. i have to go to the doctor. [talking over each other] neil: i have many things to do while you are on, but i watch. connell: we will see how it goes. lori: he was worried he was 26.

connell: neil, thank you very much. more on your next appearance. less than a month ago before this fiscal cliff deal. dennis kneale is coming up with tracy byrnes. they have a little tea party talk themselves. diane black will join them. lori: trusting car salesman before they trust their congress people. stay with "markets now." ♪ >> announcer: u never know when, but thieves can steal yourdentity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you knowi can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, steang your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lilock to relenessly protect

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>> hey, good afternoon, i'm tracy byrnes. >> i'm dennis kneale. less than a month to go before the tax hikes take place. gridlock still the word in washington. tracy: sticking to the party lines, both sides blaming the

other, as a fall off the cliff looms. dennis: joined by tea party republican dianne black, and asking her about a new survey finding americans trust car salesmen more than congress. tracy: shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. we have a retail analyst who likes jc penny. has he been to the mall lately? is he the only person in america who does? dennis: third time for heff? he's getting hitched to a 26-year-old lass. tracy: at least she has her driver's license. at the top of the hour, stocks now. lauren's on the floor of the new york stock exchange. hey, lauren. >> you missed my face after that last story. i was like, ew, and that's how the markets are today; right? look at the dow, down nine points, nays -- nasdaq up six, and s&p hanging on by a point.

markets took a turn after the manufacturing number for november, weakest number since july 2009. trying to recover since then. value shares well, up 6% right now. capital management still looking for a deal for this company, perhaps buying all of it or just the albertson unit. according to the "wall street journal" journal, they negotiated over the weekend. supervalue a winner today. back to you. tracy: somebody's got to be. thank you, lauren. see you soon. >> sure. dennis: the tumble off the cliff, a month away, and doesn't look like washington is closer to a debt deal. tracy: rich edson in dc with the latest. doesn't look like we made progress, huh in >> that's the situation, stalemate. they laughed off $1.6 trillion in tax increases, spending, and cuts, and republicans described it as far from serious. democrats say the prerequisite to any deal is a tax rate

increase on families earning at least $250,000 a year. >> we're proposing to go back to clinton levels and work with republicans on tax reform to create a more simple, more fair system, but only as part of the agreement that has rates go up. >> think about the proposal frat president. if we gave the president $1 #.6 trillion of tho money. what do you think he'd do with it? he's going to spend it. it's what washington doess >> some say the two sides are firmly in their political posturing phases with four weeks to go and neither willing to put best offers on the table to show the members they pushed for the most favorable deal. they negotiated issues for years. they know how, but have to agree on a composition of the deal, but there's no garn see they will this month. back to you. dennis: thank you, rich edson. time for the republicans to give

in? do they have no choice or win at all when they let us go off the cliff? joining us now, washington bureau chief, jerry, looks like obama's going for a two-fer, raising rates on the rich and cap deductions on the rich get them going both ways. >> opening position phase here. the problem, i think, is neither side really is moving fast enough to prevent the partisans on both wings to dig in now. i think the danger is closer to the deadline, you can't get people to pull up the stakes, move in, and support a deal. there's a compromise to be done, and i think that resolves some of the issues in the middle. i think the problem is going to be if you get a compromise at the top, will the troops below to support the compromise still be there? >> while people think there's a full month, you worry we have until december 15th? >> good point.

i'm not sure if it's december 15th, but if you want a bill done by the end of the year, it takes a couple weeks to get it done, christmas in the middle, obviously, i think the deadline in practical yesterday, he said there's no way they can compromise unless republicans raise rates on the wealthiest americans. do you think that's now their stance no matter what? >> well, that's the great question. i'm, you know, the elephant in the room has been rates. republicans have said we will give you revenues, but we'll not give you rates.

democrats are saying, revenues without rates are not enough to deal with the problem. that's where the standoff is. i think everything else, incoming entitlements can be dealt with if that impasse is resolved. there's ways to get around it. you know, for example, you could have a rate increase not as great as the 39.6% top rate in the clinton era, or have rates go up on personal income, but not small business income. there are ways around this if people want to get around it. i think the risk now is that every's dug in on not getting around that basic impasse that the dangers of the cliff get greater closer to that december 15th, 20th area. >> like he has to get good credit with the liberal colleagues. republicans look worse? >> that's the danger for republicans. not only do they look as they dug in to support a tax rate for

higher income americans, but next year, everybody's rates have gone up, and then we're in the business of negotiating a tax cut, and president obama gets to negotiate a tax cut with republicans, a lot more fun and easier to do than tax increases. i don't know they get more leverage in the new year with the possible exception that the fact that, you know, the debt ceiling will loom again, hitting that debt ceiling giving republicans some leverage down the road, but in the short term, you're right, the leverage goes more to president obama right now. >> i have fiscal cliff fatigue. thank you very much. >> sure. tracy: we all do, dennis, but we have to talk about it because congress has to deal with it. we have a new gallup poll showing 5 # 4% of the voters rate the honesty of members of congress below that of used car salesmen. dianne black of tennessee joins us from the home state to hear

what the constituents are telling her. what are con constituents sayin? >> well, you know, i'm hearing -oth from my individual constituents and business owners they are really concerned about the spending problem in washington. that's not really talked about. there's a lot of focus on the other side, but there is a real need to control the spending because we know we spend more than what we bring in every year, can want continue down this path, and you'll go off the cliff. we have to resolve that by going off the drivers of the debt, the entitlement programs, and we have to talk about that. tracy: right. we're not. i'm not sure why. i think an easy fix is raise retirement age. is that on the table for the republicans? >> well, we put something on the table for medicare, which is the really greatest driver of the

debt right now. of course, social security is also an issue we have to look at. we have 85 trillion worth of unfunded labilities now, and that's not talked about. the $16 trillion in debt is what we hear. there's $85 trillion in unfunded liabilities there, and we already put a plan on the table in our path to prosperity, a plan that did give seniors more choice and access the, a support program, and that would have helped to start to bring that cost curve and bend it. tracy: what's it take to get it done? i think everyone wants to, like, sit down to the holiday meal knowing this is something they will not have to worry about the next day. >> well, i think that takes seriousness to come to the tail, be adults, and talk about the tough issues, and spending is the problem. when we hear the administration continue to talk about putting tax on the small business

owners, 1 million will be affected by the tax. 700,000 jobs will be lost. the economy will shrink again rather than grow, and that's not where we need to be. tracy: come to the middle on this. where is it that the republican party can give a little in order for us to not have compromise be a dirty word? >> well, let me just go back to what -- if we were to do what the president's asking us to do. does anyone realize and think about what revenue that brings? it funds eight and a half days of government. where's the other 355-days you have to fund? it's a panacea. one thing that's gets people lathered up, we got to get serious and talk about tree balancing our budget. this is not going to do it by what the president says that he wants to do. tracy: not just a deal, but a good one, not just kicking it down the road. thank you for sharing your

thoughts. >> you're very welcome. thank you for having me. dennis: auto sales surge, why car dealers tip their hats with sandy, but fear the fiscal cliff. tracy: thiid time the charm for hefner? god love him. getting marrieded gain to a woman 60 years younger. come on, give him a high five for that. dennis: better living through chemicals. the perfect place where he should hold his wedding. getting into the marriage biz. tracy: looking at oil, phil flynn is live at the cme next with the reasons why oil went up, basically, flat now, $18.18 a barrel. we'll be right back. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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oh, no! man: oh, mom! aah! announcer: challenge your kids to be active and eat healthy. all right, let see what you can do. let's go. announcer: search "we can" for ideas on how to get healthy together. dennis: charles payne joining us to help us make money. >> guys, a company called soda stream. i know you know the company, a fight between the longs and shorts of this. the soda stream, the stock is new, but when the company was founded? >> no. >> 1903. >> what? >> 1903, butlers make soda in the country manner, surprised that dennis didn't know about it going back to the lineage.

cherry red, and in 15955, 14 flavors, in the 79, the first ad campaign in the u.k.. why it's interesting is there's an ad in america and other parts of the world that's banned in the ox. they are just doing an all black screen ad saying free the bubble. it's really an interesting thing because, you know why? the -- they say that they are putting down bottled drinks, and that's hurt the bottle drink industry. dennis: banned it for that? >> banned it, but a lot of people think they'll get the appeal. dennis: soda stream in august of 20 # 11 was $70, and it's $40 now. it's like as soon as you buy it, use the the first month, and then put it away. once they stoled -- sold it to the one audience, they will not sell more. >> right. it's a safety play as well. they make money selling the containers and flavors, and that's really, i got to tell you, you're right, the syrup is

60%, the short, what you brought up, think it should be zero. they don't care. they think people buy, it never use it, but that's not been the case. in fact, wall street says the next five years it should go 30%. two strong dynamics at work here. i tell you using that as a segue to a caveat. if you didn't like the stock, you'd have to use a 10% stop on it. trading at 15pe, and this stock is a screaming buy. dennis: better that 40 than 70. thank you, charles. make or buy decision. tracy: stocks every 15 minutes. dennis: phil flynn in cme and lauren on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stocks still a miss, lauren. >> still a miss.

responding to manufacturing data around the world. in china, manufacturing sector on the mend you see gold and copper, and dollar on the mend. it contracted up expectedly so that's why the market dipped for the dow. we are above 1,000, but lower on the blue chip average. the dow, actually, s&p just turned, but basically flat. looking at the sectors performing well. telecom and financials leading higher, materials and industrials on the toy #* -- on the downside, and worst performs is dupont, of course, the material. with that, over to phil at the cme group, hey, phil. >> good morning, lauren. this morning, looked like oil had everything going for it, a big expansion in the chi need manufacturing data, very, very bullish. all of that geopolitical risk. oil prices hit above $90 a barrel, but it was not the last. as soon as that u.s. economic

data came back, we took away most of those gains, and got back even on the day. all we're up on now, of course, is the concern, of course, about the middle east right now. the big news, of course, in the soybeans today, another three week high today on beeps, strong economic data means the chinese buy beans in december. the better the economy, the more beans they buy. bean traders love to hear that. up on the day. back to you. dennis: thank you. tracy: coming up, may have the one retail analyst in all america who still likes jcpenney. i want to know why. dennis: amazon and ups have jobs available now. why don't they have anyone to fill them? tracy: first how the world currencies are faring against the dollar as we head out to break. ♪

>> 22 minutes past the hour, i'm lauren green with the fox news minute. north korea planning a long range rocket launch this month despite international warnings. the first stage of the rocket put in place suggesting a launch could be next week, and that would coincide with the south korea's presidential elections. demonstrations still raging in egypt as president morisy and

the brotherhood push through the institution. the top court suspended work indefinitely as morsi supporters blocked the rule on the institution. the security building captured by the rebels, and reports say the attack killed one and wounded 20 others. this as secretary of state hillary clinton, issues a stern warn to president assad's regime use of chemical weapons. those are your head lines, back to dennis. dennis: passing the $20 billion mmnth in the holiday season. can cyber win? retail analysts joining us, and he likes jcpenney, much belined. please, explain yourself, sir. >> to be fair, they are lagging online as bad as they are in the physical world. one of the things is that

everybody's lined up against them right now. they assume things are getting worse, and talk on the street was november was a disaster for them. i actually thought i saw a real turn, a pop during the holiday week on black friday, and the other thing is that they could do just less worse and the stock could pop from where it is. it's very, very cheap. deenis: did you like this stock when it was at $42 in february 2012? it's at $17 now. >> well, stock analysts don't talk about past performance, but i have a $38 fair value on it, and our buy trigger is at $22. on value stocks, yes, it is key to buy them with a big enough margin of safety that you're not upset if it goes down more. the 16, 17, 18 after that. dennis: the brick and mortar winners so far this holiday season.

macy's, coles, -- kohl's and a third one. >> 50% growth over the holiday weekend just past. it's one of the situations where they are a lagger, but they do better. the stock is actually cheap. macy's has been marching along steadily, but they are really kind of the -- they are really getting the most juice out of the improvement on the oin line. they have been accelerating online sales at a much bigger base than everybody else. i think the consumers really see an advantage in having mai say's national foot print in the big invenn story of a big store. dennis: nordstrom and coach? >> yeah, nordstrom is a great operator, the toughest compare because they turned around earliest in 2009 in the holiday period, but, at the same time,

it's rare to get that stock at discount. i'm not terribly, you know, terribly bull ire they're going to -- bullish they're going to thok -- knock the light out for the holiday, but it's a good long term holding. dennis: worth 10% more when it's jor, people can't find it. holiday losers, tiffany and nike. >> both companies that i love for the long term, the brands, the management. there's a lot of good stuffer going on on the product side. nike's undervalued, but they are actually at the end of the strong product cycle. although, i would say i like adidas less, stock highly valued coming off a huge year out of the european championships in soccer and also the olympics. tiffany's one, again, love the company, but the stock ran up to almost $6 # --

$64 with anticipation to go to where they were last year. it's just about fairly valued now. dennis: got to go. last question, of all the stocks, pick one to buy now, pick it. >> depends on if you have the taste for the risk level. kohl's and macy's is middle of the road. go for it all. dennis: okay. tracy: all right. well, your fiical cliff survival guide. you'll need it with less than a month to go. drew has steps you can take right now to protect your portfolio and 401(k). dennis: combat helmet would worse. egypt air flight to damascus turned back because of the security situation in the syria capitol's airport. live in egypt. tracy: today's winners and losers on the s&p500. advanced microdevices up top almost 10% today, and, dell,

believe it or not, up almost 6%. we'll be right back.

dennis: fiscal cliff survival kit. what to do now to protect your portfolio and 401(k), and help wanted at ups, but nobody answering the ads. we'll tell you why. look for the spot to hold your weeing? how about denny's? how the chain is getting into the marriage biz. tracy: pancakes and cocktail hour. we have stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. lauren watching a deal with equifax, how? >> it's monday, talking about activity that's lifting both of the companies involved to new

highs. computer science's stock surging about 4% hitting a 52-week high on news it's selling credit services arm equifax for a billion dollars in cash, expected to close at the end of the year. equifax shares at 5%, highest level in history. a graduate day for them, and computer sciences says why they are selling the space providing services to banks and facilities, ect., because they want to focus more on technology and that business spending in that area. as for stocks overall, a relatively flat day. the dow struggling to turn into the positive column, but, again, we have the nasdaq and s&p500 in the green. back to you. tracy: see you in 15 minutes, thank you. dennis: egyptian president pushing the islamist institution as forces are in the capital. tracy: we have the latest from cairo.

hey, steve. >> conflict between the president and the courts continues. unusual situation sunday morning when the country's highest court, the supreme constitutional court, the judges afraid to go into work sunday morning, that courtroom was surrounded by a large crowd of pro-morsi protesters chaptering. the exits and entrances were secure for the gums. they felt physically and psychologically intime at a -- intimidated. they scheduled to meet here, peak 250,000 last week, down to a few thousand today, but tomorrow, a major march towards the palace. if that march comes off, there's a likelihood of con infrastructure with pro-morsi supporter, something the government tried to avoid until now. back to you in new york. dennis: thank you, steve. tracy: need a miscall cliff survival kit? well, next guest says with a time to pull back on u.s.the

stocks. the trust children -- chairman joining us now. drew, go out of the u.s. and go overseas like europe? >> stay diversified; right? across the port foal low, and we've been long, dividend paying stocks for sometime, and that's the place to be, but we've enjoyed nice returns on not just the developed market stocks, but e emerging markets. we'll begin to move the balance more overseas because we like the evaluations, and the growth rates are far superior. that will help the portfolio if there's a problem with congressional decision making, which wouldn't be a shocker at this point. tracy: not to anyone. what are we considering emerging these days? what countries, in particular, are you looking at? >> well, it's always going to be the brick, you know, the emerging market there, and it's

interesting to note also the shanghai index reached another four year low the other day. there's concern in china about the slope of the growth rate so that probably provides a good opportunity, again, to be investing in the emerging markets. tracy: you like gold and miners as well. high numbers on gold. room to grow though? >> it really does because what's going on here why are all stocks doing so well when we know full well that we're probably moving into recession territory in europe. we're really going to is a soft 2013 here domestically, and it's hard to say what the ultimate outcome for the chinese growth rate's going to be. why favor stocks? it's because every central bank in the world tells you they are going to print money, going to create stimulus going forward so you want to be out of the money market, and you want to be increasingly long stocks. tracy: talk about what you sell? small caps, micro caps because,

i guess, in theory, they have no idea what's going on, hard to adjust to the moving shift. >> exactly. they will have trouble sorting the tax code going forward, and when there's tax rates increasing, especially on capital gains, it's harder for the small and micro cappedded stocks to perform in that territory, and then back to the goal comment, the reason for the gold is that your hedge; right? against inflation going forward. that brings the portfolio back in balance for a nice balance between equities and the gold, and add to the gold a nice balanced commodity position with a broad basket of commodities. tracy: domestic against bloabl equities on your portfolio, and emerging is majority of the international; correct? >> for now. we're moving more into emerging, but the developed markets, the pricing in european equities back in april, talking like the 1970s you have not seen evaluations like that.

we're -- despite the fact nothing's been solved in europe, but evaluations discounted the end of the planet for the economies so that's a good entry point. tracy: i guess, drew, thank you for sharing your thoughts. >> thank you, tracy. tracy: nobody's got to together. dennis: not yet anyway. delta airlines looking to buy virgin air. tracy: help wanted at amazon and ups, so why is nobody applying? dennis: first, let's look at ten-year treasuries. ♪

♪ >> i'm dianne with your fox business brief. fannie and freddie evictions on hold for the holidays. it doesn't mean the foreclosure process stops during that time, but allows families to avoid eviction. it begins december 17th, and fannie's the 19th and both run through january 2. the federal reserve of new york has named a chair earlier this hour. metropolitan museum of art president will take the position come january. the new york fed came under criticism this year when jpmorgan had a trading loss raising questions about dimon's roll on the board. com score op line sales rose 15% from last year to nearly $20.5 billion in the first 30 days of the holiday season. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper. and we can save you 10% on ground shipping over the ups store.

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dennis: growing number of companies fearing the fiscal cliff, borrowing money to pay off dividends now. tracy: there's a side effect to be aware of, and elizabeth is mere. >> swamp the balance sheet with debt, you're going to get a credit rating cut, and that's why agencies are warning. we have $100 billion borrowed in november, and now the number of companies issuing special dividends 234 # tax hikes on dividends, 173. watch out, costco cut by fitch, its credit rating downgraded. s&p down downgraded jack daniels and vodka, you know, allen hamilton in the third quarter, cairn vol, all borrowed to issue

special dividends, and really interesting story is costco, the ceo has been out there saying americans have to pay their fair share and sacrifice. you know, a big supporter of the president. he's saving $4 million on the special dividends costco has advance of the tax hikes. the board saving about $8 million on a $29 million dividend they get early. this is the companies on the radar screen. not, you know, just for that, if you are out there saying, yes, america should pay the fair share, and you get an accelerated dividend, but the credit rating agency saying, wait a second, a hard look at this in terms of your credit rating. interesting stuff. we'll stay op top of the story. they are not aware of it. tracy: red flag should be waved. dennis: rates have never been lower to borrow, and i'd rather

borrow, more return, and i give money to the shareholders, in favor of that, especially ahead of the higher tax. >> rates stay low if the rating is cut? >> corporate -- dennis: feel they are stronger than government even. >> there you go. great hit. dennis: delta could be flying higher in the u.k.. the second largest airline in the u.s. in talks to buy some or all of the 49% stake in virgin giving delta a much better access to heathrow airport, a key hub in european travel. virgin wants to keep its 51 #% stake in virgin atlantic giving access to hundreds of markets delta has gnat u.s.. shares with delta today? doing nothing. tracy: unemployment nearly 8% and still some companies can't fill spots. amazon and ups having trouble

finding workers this season. ups still having an additional 5,000 seasonal positions open. offering jobs in every department. pay from $8-$12 an hour plus bonuses. regardless of high unemployment, people are holding out for higher paying, more secure work. that's silly. if you're a good part timer, they hire you as a full timer. dennis: all right. with this onion ring, i thee wed. the 24-hour diner branched out into weddings. openedded las vegas restaurant, a built-in wedding chapel where couple the tie the knot after breakfast. a note for the couples out there, the first wedding will be early next year. that's a warning to those who want to avoid marriage at dennies. tracy: or breakfast at denny's.

dennis: bullish bet in four months. tracy: sandra smith has details. >> a lot of traders do wwtch this commodity's futures trading report with long bets, short bets, market higher or lower, and what we saw in the latest data 69tftc reports, there's bets building as china has strong economic reports, and 5 lot of the bets pour into the gold market. gold holdings, bullish, six week high. there's been quite a rally there. a lot of the hedge fund money's pouring into the wheat market with the biggest bullish holdings in the market dating bang -- back to june as the rally continues. flip the screen, guys, and that's live cattle. volatile, but it, too, rallying lately. holdings there, long holdings means it continues to rise, double in the latest week, and then lastly, guys, jumping out

of this and back into commodities market. copper, remember, china is the biggest consumer of copper in the world. when they do better, they use more. a couple areas they are looking. a couple plays in the stock market, guys, gold stocks, underperforming the medal itself. bare gold, all down double digits this year and gold up 9%. a lot of calls for the gold stocks to pick up and the canadian dairy farmer,

building dean foods morningstar unit for $1.45 million. that is coffee creamers, friendship, cottage cheese, mixing nicely with the offerings. that's the deal, and it's up around 2.5% on the news. markets, overall, same picture. we have a flat trade, dow down, the s&p down, and the nasdaq up, but, honestly, all of them are flat. what did it us was that report at 10 a.m. showing the manufacturing here in the u.s., in the month of november, unexpectedly contracted, and that kind of out did the positive manufacturing report we got from china lifting commodities much of the day. back to you. tracy: see you in 15 inn again. happy b-day pxt1234 we'll explain that ahead. dennis: hew going to the happen l, and he's going to get married. stick around for pictures of how

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tracy: breaking news, the white house reports that president obama will take questions on twitter at 2 p.m. eastern about the fiscal cliff. all part of the white house my2k

campaign with the president drumming up support for higher taxes on the rich. dennis: that will be a fair and balanced asourcement of questions. our parent company, parent corp., details on splitsville, editor and chief of the "wall street journal" is ceo of the print spinoff taking the news corp. name. the video film television properties is fox group and the daily, launched by news corp. last year as the first ipad only newspaper, one of them anyway, closing, rest in peace. ad spending is the canary in the coal mine taking a hit, three ad agency giants reducing forecasts for next year. 4.5%. more sluggish 4.1%, and worldwide, interpublic, most bearish, in half to 3.1% next year, and there's this, the 86-year-old icon of playboy

getting hitched on new year's eve to crystal harris who is six decades younger, she's 26. now, that's just wrong unless you're hugh hefner. tracy: she didn't show last time. the second engagement, and jilted four days before hand. dennis: i so hope they'll be okay, those young kids. marriage is hard for a young couple. big day for auto companies. tracy: fiscal cliff may leave a dent. jeff black in chicago with more. hey, jeff. >> good news and bad news in the auto world. first, the numbers. today, indeed, good news, largely, and because of sandy, ford estimates about a maybe 30,000 or so car bump this month because of sandy. do the actual numbers starting with gm. they were up 3% on the month,

ford up 6%, chrysler up 15%, and that's the 30-second consecutive month of gains for toyota up 17%, and let's do the good news first of all, and there's quite a bit of good news. the fiat brand up 123%, that 500 unvail last week at the auto show doing real well. the ford focus up 56%. gm small cars overall up 50%. the volt's doing well, and ford uppedded its guidance on q1. they are going to produce 11% more cars, that's bullish. the lincoln brand down 9%. spending more money than lincoln's spent on ads to raise the profile. ford fusion, sales off. truck sales down 11%. they are introducing a new one later this week or next week i should say, and in the first sign they are worried about the

fiscal cliff, bullish last week at the auto show, gm is withholding its 2013 sales guidance because they are worrieded about what might happen if nothing happens in washington. that's it. dennis: aren't we all? thank you, jeff. tracy: 20 years ago today the first text message went oh. a simple "merry christmas" was sent by an engineer neil patworth. it was sent from a pc to a cell phone, but a bittersweet birthday as experts say these fast finger messages have hit their peak. i don't know about that. you aiming i talked about how -- dennis: replaced the phone call entirely. tracy: i voice text more than i text. dennis: that's selfish -- tracy: i talk it into the phone -- dennis: they read it to you. tracy: no, no, it's translated.

dennis: oh, into text. i'm in the 1990s. you're next century. smooth talking car congressmen who want to seal the deal or congressmen who didn't get a deal done? tracy: who do americans trust the least? new poll numbers and what lou dobbs thinks about it. i want to hear about that. ♪ want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to dot! now we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at huma, we understand the value of quality time and personal atntion. which is why we are proud to partner with health care profesonals who understand the difference that quality time with our member can make... that's a very nice cake! ohh! [ giggles ] [ male annouer ] humana thanks the physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other health professionals who helpeus achieve the highest average star rating among national medicare companies... and become the first and only

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dennis: 86-year-old hefner prepares to marry his 26-year-old boy, and i thought prnup, but the playboy is less now than at its peak, the bride could ask for the prenup. tracy: who does he trust least? the current fee yap say or -- fiance or congress? lori and melissa will tell us. >> those are good jokes. we have to